1955 Fuel pump Chinese or OEM

[Jeannie]

Hi, This is my 2 cents on Carter brand Chinese built pumps.
Carter Fuel Pump M3150​

Made in China Used on Ford Y block and FE engines. Single diaphragm.

The design looks good and no obvious quality problems.

Tested fine, 4.5 lbs. pressure and 9 “ of suction. Installed on a 1956 Thunderbird with 312 engine, converted to electric wipers.

Seemed to work fine after I installed it, except several times I noticed engine oil on the lower section. Wiped it off, and it didn’t come back right away. Bolts were tight, thought perhaps bad gasket.

After 4 months, less than 400 miles, with no warning, cruising at about 50MPH, it just shut down. Zero pressure from the pump.

Bypassed it with an inline electric pump emergency kit I put together after reading all the fuel pump failure stories. Even back in the 50s and 60s, fuel pumps were a common failure item, but usually they were older and started leaking.

When I removed the pump I noticed the arm moved easily, only the resistance of the little follower spring. When I removed that spring the arm flopped up and down with no resistance, indicating the arm was no longer connected to the diaphragm and pressure spring. I opened it up and found the ‘hook’ on the end of the arm had pulled up through the ‘loop’ (rectangular hole) on the diaphragm rod. Never saw that before, but not being a professional mechanic, I haven’t autopsied many dead fuel pumps. I wish more people would report how their ‘Chinese’ pump failed, but I understand the desire to return them under warranty.

As I only paid $33 from RockAuto, I won’t bother to return it. Carter states a 1 year warranty, and if I put it back together, they probably wouldn’t question it.

In the past, pre-pandemic, I have used 3 of these ‘ US brand Chinese made’ fuel pumps on my old cars with no failures. One has more than 10k miles, the others much less. I am thinking that the supply and manufacturing problems resulting from Covid-19 has left us with a lot of ‘crap’ out there! I agree probably the best bet is a rebuild from a reputable source. The machined area of the rod end that failed looked kind of rough. Good luck, Ron

I was thinking of the very thing you are talking about . What part of the fuel pumps are failing and if someone can rebuild it what are they finding? Not being an auto part specialist myself I couldn't take on the task for my car but very interesting that you found that and fixed it. Wish I could have done it and thanks for the info. My car seems to be fixed now after changing the fuel line/hose as well as everything else....tank, fuel pump,gasket etc. Probably should have started at the hose and worked backwards. We'll see how long it lasts. Thanks

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[doug7740]

I have rebuilt a number of these pumps and I have seen a number if things that would cause the fuel pump to fail. If you own an Early Thunderbird 1955/56/57 sooner or later you will experience oil or Fuel or both leaking from the vent holes in the center body of the pump.



If the leak through the vent holes is fuel, the lower pump diaphragm is split allowing fuel to seep to the top of the diaphragm and exit through the vent holes.



If the leak through the vent holes is oil, the diaphragm shaft seal is worn which allows oil to pass the seal into the vent cavity.



I have also seen defective one-way valves in the pump body that allow the fuel to return from the carburetor or prevent fuel to be drawn from the gas tank.





doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue

 

[gdshipley]

Carter m73063 pump. won’t pump. Input and output ports not labeled. Connected same way as old oem pump. YouTube had video on new Delphi pump where the ports were opposite than labeled. Even after switching the connections that pumps would still not pump either. They never got it to work and ended up rebuilding the old fuel pump
I haven’t switched the connections yet but suspect it won’t do any good. Pictures attached. Any advice or experience with this Carter pump?

 

[doug7740]

When installed, the fuel pump inlet is closest to the lower radiator hose and the outlet is closest to the engine block. The fuel pump in your picture is made in China. Fuel pumps made in China use Phillips head screws and on some, the bottom sediment bowl has a red washer and a Phillips head screw. I have had very limited success rebuilding fuel pumps made in China, that’s why Thunderbird parts suppliers and rebuilders will not rebuild fuel pumps that are made in China. Fuel pumps made in the USA use hex head or slotted head screws. I prefer to rebuild pumps that have slotted head screws, but I have successfully rebuilt the hex head ones.

When installing the fuel pump make sure the engine is set to the cylinder 1 top dead center mark on the crank pulley. By doing this the eccentric cam that operates the fuel pump will be on the low side of the cam and the fuel pump will not have much pressure against the operating lever. When you install the fuel pump, make sure the fuel pump operating lever is under the eccentric cam and put some assembly lube on the fuel pump operating lever. You will feel resistance as the pump arm meets the eccentric cam and the arm moves against the spring.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue

 

[cokefirst]

In 2006 I bought a new fuel pump at TBHQ for my Thunderbird. It still works good, only a little bit of sweating. Can anybody tell me if I have an original fuel pump or one from China? What I understood is that the pumps from China are not working very long.
Is the sweating normal? Do I have to fix it?

That certainly looks like a Chinese pump. If it works, don't worry about it. I hope you saved your original pump, it can be rebuilt